Fatehabad village loses its son
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 17
It was the last day of 2003 and Pandit Jasraj, one of the greatest exponents of Indian classical music who passed away at the age of 90 on Monday, was visiting Pili Mandori, his native village in Fatehabad district, after 27 years.
As his car reached the village boundary, Pandit Jasraj was so overcome with nostalgia that he asked the driver to stop the car; he alighted, took a handful of soil and touched it to his forehead with reverence.
Asked to address the audience, largely from Pili Mandori and neighbouring villages, the great maestro was overwhelmed with emotion.
Wiping tears with a towel, Pandit Jasraj spoke in chaste Bagri dialect. “Main thane kih kahun, maine to kih shabad hie koni pan lagriha. Mera mann to kare se ke is rajj mein lot jaun. Mere liye yeh bhumi Brindavan se kam nahin (What shall I say to you? I am short of words. I feel like rolling my body on the soil of this village. This place is no less than Vrindavan for me),” he said with his voice chocking.
When a villager addressed him as “Panditji”, the great Jasraj asked villagers the reason for addressing him so. People in Pili Mandori used to address him as “Jasia”.
On learning that no one from the village had tried to learn classical music, he said if villagers formed a cultural organisation to promote classical music, he would visit the village every year while offering Rs 1 lakh for it.
After that, Pandit Jasraj started visiting the village almost every year. In 2014, he celebrated his birthday, which falls on January 28, in Pili Mandori.
Pandit Jasraj’s wife Madhura, the daughter of noted director of yesteryears V Shantaram; daughter Durga Jasraj, a noted TV personality; son Sarang, a music director; and some other members of his family also accompanied him and mingled with villagers.
With Pandit Jasraj’s visits, the village started getting funds from the government. As a result, several development activities were started there.
“Villagers will miss Panditji badly. With his efforts, the village got a waterworks with an RO system worth Rs 2 crore from the government. We have a library named after him,” says Anita Kumari, village sarpanch.
Pandit Jasraj was born in Pili Mandori village on January 28, 1930. He belonged to a family of musicians. His father Pandit Moti Ram and uncle Pandit Jyoti Ram were singers of the Jammu and Kashmir “raj gharana”. He, however, left the village and started learning classical music under the guidance of his elder brother Pandit Mani Ram.
“Panditji’s passing away is a huge loss to Haryana in general and Fatehabad district in particular because he provided our area recognition across the globe,” says Deepesh Rahi, a singer from Fatehabad and winner of Voice of Punjab (2012) and Voice India (2014).
“On August 1, my father Mukesh Rahi and I were on Durga Jasraj’s live musical conversation ‘Utsah’ launched by her during the lockdown. Panditji watched us sing from his home in New Jersey, US,” he says.
